Frozen salmon cuts no ice with tour group to Canada

FISHY BUSINESS:Tour members are aggrieved that they did not see ‘a single salmon’ on their trip and want compensation for the emotional distress

Staff writer, with CNA

A group of unhappy tour group members have appeared in court to press their case for compensation from Phoenix Tours for failing to take them on a salmon-spotting trip as promised during a trip to Canada.

The 25 tourists, who paid NT$110,000 apiece for a 10-day Canadian Rocky Mountain autumn tour in October last year, said the agency promised them a salmon-spotting trip in Roderick Haig Brown Provincial Park or at Goldstream River on Vancouver Island.

However, the agency’s tour guide, surnamed Wu (吳), failed to take them to either location and instead just brought them to a river behind their hotel to see salmon.

Tour members who testified at a trial hearing at the Taipei District Court on Thursday said they did not see “a single salmon” and asked the agency for NT$980,000 to cover a portion of the tour’s costs and compensate them for emotional distress.

During the hearing, Wu said that he simply forgot to take the tourists to Roderick Haig Brown Provincial Park.

Soon after the incident, Phoenix Tours staff tried to placate angry tour group members by presenting them with frozen salmon as gifts, but the gesture had little effect.

A manager at Phoenix Tours said that the incident was a clear lapse on Wu’s part and he said the agency was willing to compensate the group for its losses.

However, the two sides have not been able to agree on appropriate compensation, which is why the case is in court, he said.